- Tuesday's Tour de France Stage 16 departs Martigny at 12:55 CET (6:55am U.S. Eastern) and is expected in Bourg-Saint-Maurice between 17:11 and 17:41 CET (11:11am and 11:41am U.S. Eastern). Tour de France live coverage on Versus TV is scheduled to begin at 6:30am U.S. Eastern (6:55am U.S. Eastern for the Versus live streaming). Live coverage on Eurosport is scheduled to begin at 12:45 CET (6:45am U.S. Eastern). Live coverage on France 2 is scheduled to begin at 13:50 CET (7:50am U.S. Eastern).

- Today is the second and final rest day at the Tour de France. More Tour de Cycling - Monday to come...

It was six years ago today, on July 20, 2003, that popular pro cyclist Lauri Aus (AG2R) was killed while training in his native Estonia, struck from behind by a drunk driver. Aus wasn't on the AG2R Tour team that year but he did ride in support of fellow Estonian sprinter Jaan Kirsipuu in the 1997 and 2000 Tours. A moment of silence was held in Aus's memory at the start of Stage 15 of the 2003 Tour. Aus notably finished 5th in the 1992 Olympics road race behind gold medal winner, the late Fabio Casartelli, a Motorola teammate of Lance Armstrong. Armstrong finished that race in 14th place in the same time as Aus.

By special request, introducing Laura Antoine, the American podium girl at the Tour de France... (You may have seen her featured on Versus the other day. Link below. I've had a few requests for photos of Laura, so here you are...)

Laura is a model from Saint Louis, Missouri. She has worked at the Lido in Paris (A number of American women indeed dance at the Lido and Crazy Horse in Paris.) Laura was recently featured on Versus. -Pete

The 2009 Tour of Missouri (September 7-13) is a go, so we can begin to look forward to live and delayed coverage options for the race.

In a media conference call today involving Missouri Lt. Governor Peter Kinder, Chris Aronhalt (Medalist Sports) and Steve Brunner (King of the Mountain Sports), cyclingfans.com learned that the state of Missouri, and cycling fans, can expect a record amount of Tour of Missouri TV hours: 28 hours of televised coverage.

According to Brunner, 2009 Tour of Missouri coverage can currently be summarized as follows:

- Live streaming video online/webcast

- Live broadcast on Universal Sports

- Tape delay on Versus

- Tape delay on Fox Sports Midwest

We will have more information as available. cyclingfans.com will of course publish a complete guide to 2009 Tour of Missouri Live Coverage.

Tour de France, L'Equipe, Tuesday July 14:"Contador is alone, or nearly so, but he can't allow himself to admit it."(photo shows Contador at rest day press conference)

- Tuesday's Tour de France Stage 10 departs Limoges at 12:30 CET (6:30am U.S. Eastern) and is expected in Issoudun between 16:59 and 17:25 CET (10:59am and 11:25am U.S. Eastern). Tour de France live coverage on Versus TV is scheduled to begin at 8:30am U.S. Eastern (8:00am U.S. Eastern for the Versus live streaming). Live coverage on Eurosport is scheduled to begin at 13:45 CET (7:45am U.S. Eastern).

- More Tour de Cycling - Monday to come...

- Tour de France: Today is the first of two rest days.

- Many news outlets are referencing Lance Armstrong's comments Sunday, in a post-Stage 9 interview on French TV, regarding his likely return to race another Tour de France in 2010. Appearing with two-time Tour champion and current broadcaster Laurent Fignon, currently undergoing treatment for cancer, Armstrong also comments on the possibility of creating a new team with Johan Bruyneel(Nike may be involved but they are looking for a title sponsor) and answers a question assessing his interest in one day becoming president of the UCI ("That job is harder than doing the Tour. And I'd have to live in Switzerland!") He also talks about Livestrong in France (all monies collected from bracelet sales remain in France). Fignon comments that he sees that Armstrong is getting "better and better" throughout the Tour. Armstrong states that though the Tour is approaching halfway point, in terms of racing "we're only 25% done". Armstrong also acknowledges there is some tension on the team related to his rivalry with teammate Alberto Contador. Actor/director Ben Stiller tells Armstrong to bug off while he (Stiller) prepares for the TTT. And show host Gerard Holtz calls Armstrong a geek, due to his love of Twitter, etc. The show also includes highlights from the first week of race action. You can watch the full show online (21:08), link below. -Pete

Watch Lance Armstrong's Sunday interview on France TV - 2009 Tour de France "probably not" his last Tour - - Tour at about halfway point but in terms of racing, "we're only 25% done" -

- Quote of the day: "We can't wait for the Tour to begin, especially with the start in Monaco and the return of Lance Armstrong. I'd love to be a fly on the wall to see how Astana is going to approach the race..... (Everyone) is curious to find out if Armstrong's return will be successful. Will it be like (Michael) Jordan, successful, or like (Bjorn) Borg?" - Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France (in today's L'Equipe)

Armstrong and teammates to recon Montpellier Team Time Trial course twice

- 2009 Tour de France: The Team Time Trial is back after a 4-year absence and today (Tuesday) Lance Armstrong, Alberto Contador and their Astana teammates will do reconnaissance of the Stage 4 TTT course (39km) in Montpellier near the Mediterranean. They will then ride the course again on Wednesday morning before heading that afternoon to Monaco where the Tour starts on Saturday.

- Lance Armstrong was featured on the popular Vivement Dimanche program on France 2 television yesterday. Hosted by the highly respected Michel Drucker, the program includes guest commentary and questions from a number of celebrities including 5-time Tour champion Eddy Merckx, 2-time TDF champ Laurent Fignon, Eric Fottorino (writer and director of Le Monde), and French writer Christian Laborde (longtime Armstrong fan and author of the book "Champion" about Armstrong). Drucker recently travelled to Aspen, Colorado for the feature which includes highlights from Armstrong's career, accompanied by a variety of song clips from the Alan Parsons Project's Sirius (the music long used to introduce the Chicago Bulls players before home games) to John Denver's Rocky Mountain High. The program is a full hour long and you can watch it online here. (Armstrong mostly speaks in English, sometimes dubbed in French, sometimes with sub-titles.) Nicely done.

NEW YORK, N.Y. (June 24, 2009)- VERSUS, the exclusive television home of the Tour de France in the U.S., will kick-off its ninth year of wall-to-wall coverage of the most intense and grueling competition in all of sports on Sat., July 4, at 9:30 a.m. ET. The network will begin its first day of Tour coverage at 8:30 a.m. ET with a one-hour special chronicling Lance Armstrong's career and his 2009 comeback season. For the first time ever, each stage of the Tour will be produced in full HD.